A Rose Among Lilies
by SheyConYamo
Summary: Can you run from destiny? Is it giving up when you decide to go along with it? Can a destiny be wrong or bad? Or does destiny just tell you what is good for you to begin with? OC&OCs Please review!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Caritas. Sanctuary to human and demon, good guy and bad guy, all colors and creeds. That was just the way it was and no one was going to do anything about it so long as The Host owned it. A lover of all. A neutral party. That was who he was.

Lorne smiled as yet another happy future graced his ears: Three children, a heard of puppies that turn into a dog shelter, and a long, happy, loving marriage. He was open to all futures of course, but the happy ones were just so… uplifting. He looked at the man singing. _Yup! Tall, charming, and a heart of gold. Someone's going to be a happy lady!_

Lorne took a sip of his Sea Breeze and grimaced; not for the first time. He automatically turned to lecture his new bartender for the umpteenth time when his senses caught it again. He stopped for a moment and looked at the woman sitting at the bar.

For four nights she had come in, sat down in the same spot at the bar, and had the same drink. She never sang but she did like listening. She would often people watch, just observe. He could tell she truly found the people who came in interesting. He could tell she found him just as interesting. He had felt her eyes on him when she had first come in. But, after memorizing him, she had gone on to observe other people. While this behavior was intriguing anyway, what was more interesting was her aura. People came to Caritas to escape from the world anyway, but she seemed to feel it's protection more profoundly than most. When she came in she was tense, her aura stressed and poised, but once she was inside… she was calm, almost serene. It was almost like she was actually running from something; or someone.

Lorne blinked as he realized the song had come to an end. He glanced back at the man who had been singing and then went to continue with his bartender. "Rico? Did you sleep through class the day they were teaching how to make 'Sea Breezes'?" Rico gave him that annoyed look he always gave him when he got on to him. "Learn how to make it right and I won't have to say anything, will I?" He put the glass back and looked back at the man who had been singing. The applause was quite generous. Out of the corner of his eye he looked at the woman at the bar. She was just watching. She never applauded; only watched. He looked back at the man as he walked off stage and started for the bar. He smiled and prepared to deliver the good news, pushing the conundrum of the woman to the back of his mind.

XoXoX

At the hotel, Angel was in his office, brooding as usual. It was a slow night. There hadn't been a serious case in a while. So, everyone was just lounging around, trying to find something to do.

As Angel sat in his office (brooding) he heard the door-bell jingle. He ignored it. If it was something that he was needed for the others would call him. He heard Cordelia greet whoever it was and heard a male voice reply. He listened halfheartedly to the muffled conversation. He continued to ignore it.

Angel sniffed. _What's that smell?_ He sniffed again. He took a long sample of air. _Its a scent._ He sniffed again and realized it was actually two scents. They were pretty distinctive. They were both strangely familiar and yet completely foreign to him. He listened more alertly to the conversation. His eyes narrowed.

Angel got up from his chair and walked to his office door. He opened it noiselessly and walked towards the conversation.

"… and how much do you charge for…" The man who had been talking stopped and looked at Angel. Cordelia turned to where he was looking and noticed Angel too.

"Oh! This is Angel!" she said quickly. She didn't continue talking because she noticed the looks on Angel's and the men's faces. She and the others looked back and forth between the three.

"Angel?" said the man. "Angel is a vampire." He wasn't asking a question.

"Yes, I am." said Angel. He stepped closer. "The question is, what are you?" He looked at them hard. He was trying to be imposing, but the truth was he wasn't really sure what they were. He knew they weren't human, but while their scents were familiar he just couldn't tell from that alone what they were. He felt like he had smelt it before, but the part that he couldn't recognize was throwing him off.

The taller man who had been talking looked at the other one. Angel took that opportunity to look them both over quickly. They both had ridiculously long hair tied back in ponytails, were wearing black and grey clothing and pitch black duster-like coats. Another thing he noticed was the clothing they were wearing didn't look like any he had seen before. The clothing looked human enough, but it wasn't human made. The styles were different. Angel narrowed his eyes and looked up at the man's face as he turned back.

"Since we know what all of you are, it seems only fair to tell you what we are." He glanced at the others in the room before leveling his eyes at Angel. "We're werewolves."

Angel narrowed his eyes. The second he said it he knew he was telling the truth. The familiarity clicked in his mind… but the part that wasn't familiar was eating at him. He walked around and stood in front of them. "You smell different. Why?"

The man smiled. It wasn't necessarily an evil smile, but it wasn't really a kind one either. "We are a reclusive breed. We try to stay away from human populations. They are far too," he paused, "tempting."

Angel raised an eyebrow. That _was_ an entirely possible explanation. He stared hard at the man. "Then why are you in a human city?"

The man smiled again. This time it seemed more friendly, like he was expecting that question. "That is why we are here. One of our own, a dangerous individual, has chosen to hide here. We have been looking for her."

"Her!" Cordelia cut in.

The man looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "Yes, 'her'." He looked back at Angel and continued. "We've been looking for her for about five days. Obviously, we have been unsuccessful."

"So you came to us." Wesley put in.

"Yes. You seemed to be the only people in the city who deal with…" he paused and looked up as if thinking, "_different_ situations."

Angel stared at them. As far as he could tell, they _seemed_ to be speaking the truth. He thought about what to do for a few seconds more before deciding to go with it; for the moment. "So, what is it that makes this person so dangerous?"

The two glanced at each other again. This time, the other werewolf spoke. "She's a criminal. She kills at least one human in every populated area she visits and has killed several of our men in the various altercations we have had trying to apprehend her."

"Why would she do that?" Fred asked, a look of almost horror on her face.

"Some of our kind find it... difficult, to resist temptation." the shorter werewolf answered. The look he gave Fred when saying that made her shiver.

"We also believe she might have psychological problems." the tall one put in.

"So you're trying to catch her," Angel said, "and do what, exactly?"

The tall werewolf glanced at the others and looked away. "Whatever is necessary." He looked back at Angel. "Whether that will be kill her or contain her will depend."

"On what?" Angel asked without skipping a beat.

The tall werewolf stared into his eyes. "On her." He said nothing more.

Angel nodded. "So, what's her name?" he asked.

XXX

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**I do not own Angel or anything that goes with it! That all goes to the talented Joss Whedon! All I own is the story, the OCs, and a bunch of junk coming up in later chapters! ;)**

**Hope you like, please review! ^.^**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

BANG! A door to a darkened building swung open and bounced off the wall.

"She's definitely not in there!" Angel said with an exasperated sigh as him, Gunn, and Cordelia walked out of the demon hideout.

"Oh! Yah think!" Cordelia shot at him.

"Yeah, I'm sure she wouldn't want to spend her time hangin' around with puss demons." Gunn added. "Damn! That was nasty!" he said as jumped in the back of the car.

"You said it!" agreed Cordelia as she shut the door on her side.

Angel kept quite as he started up the car and sped off.

They'd been looking for the female werewolf for two days and hadn't come up with anything yet. No leads, no nothing. All they knew was what the two men had given them: Her name was Lilith, she was 5'10", had green eyes, brown hair, and was slim with a muscular build. Usually, a complete physical description was a score, but in this case it had gotten them nowhere.

After he got back onto the main streets Angel spoke. "Alright, where to next?"

"Lets look at the list shall we!" said Cordelia sarcastically. "Hmmmmm… "

"Why don't we try Caritas?" Gunn suddenly asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Cordelia agreed. She hurriedly put the list away. Both men noticed.

"I mean, after all," Gunn continued, "anyone can go to Caritas, right? So, why wouldn't she be there?"

"Right!" Cordelia agreed again. Her and Gunn looked at Angel expectantly.

Angel stared straight ahead for a few moments before answering. "Alright, we'll head for Caritas."

"Yay!" Cordelia clapped her hands together. Gunn pretty much fell back into the seat with relief. Angel could sympathize. The next places on the list weren't the best. Half were worse than the one they just checked. But everything had to be ruled out.

Angel wasn't sure how much the to two werewolves could be trusted. Everything seemed to make sense, but something just wasn't right. Without anything but his gut to tell him better, Angel was treating this case on appearances. If this Lilith was really a deranged, possibly mentally ill person she wouldn't be in a place like Caritas. Hence checking everything else first. The only reason he had decided to go ahead and check Caritas now was that it had been two days and they hadn't found anything. Plus, considering the worsening conditions of the locations left on the list, he felt it would at least be a good break.

Angel practically glared down the road as he sped towards the sanctuary. There was more to this than what they had been told. It would only be a matter of time before they found out what it was.

XoXoX

There she was again.

Lorne looked out of the corner of his eye at the woman at the bar. _How many days has it been?_ he thought. _Seven. She's been coming here for seven straight days._

He heard a glass being sat down on the bar and started slightly. He looked to see Rico giving him a sly look.

"Don't start with me." he said as he picked up his margarita and took a sip. He knew exactly what it was about. Honestly, he didn't mean to stare. It was just that that woman had become a mystery. She came in every day, sat in the same spot, had the same drink, and just watched people! Or just stared into space. People were free to do as they pleased in Caritas (well, within reason) but it was just that she didn't do anything different; and she certainly didn't do what most people did when they came in. Most people came in to either have their fortunes read, watch people sing horribly on stage, sing horribly on stage themselves, have fun, or simply unwind. She did absolutely none of that! Well, she did watch people sing, but that wasn't _why_ she was there.

All Lorne really had to go on was how her aura read when she came in. Coming in, she was almost anxious, like she was expecting something to pop out of the shadows at her. By _something_, he meant like the Grim Reaper. Something awful, at least. When she was actually in Caritas she was calm. Calm and quite. She was so calm that her aura was practically unreadable. At that point, he would have to rely on physical examination and that didn't get him anywhere either! Her body language and facial expression gave off the impression that there was nothing wrong with her life at all. Absolutely nothing! As if the completely "ready to break and run" aura she was emitting while coming in had never happened.

So basically, Lorne had nothing. For the life of him, Lorne could not figure it out. He had absolutely no idea _why_ she kept _coming_ to CARITAS!

Lorne shook his head. "Whoo! I've been thinking waaay too much." He took another drink of his margarita; while ignoring Rico's snicker.

Basically, she had become something like an itch he couldn't scratch; or maybe like a bug he couldn't whack. Either way, he was not happy about not being able to figure her out.

Lorne looked to the stage as someone started singing "Call Me When You're Sober". He glanced back at the woman, who was currently staring into her drink. A semi-evil smile spread across his face. _Maybe I can get her to sing._ He wouldn't normally want someone to sing just so he could know something about them, but… what else was he gonna do? He looked up as he thought about that. _Well, I could just ask her._ Then his brows furrowed. _Why didn't I think of that before? Oh, yeah. When she first came in, I thought it was a one time deal. Hmm._

Lorne took another drink of his margarita and had just about made up his mind to go talk to her when a familiar aura pricked at his senses. He paid more attention. _Make that three._ he thought. He looked to the door and only had to wait a few seconds before Angel, Gunn, and Cordelia popped in. He decided to save the conundrum of the woman for a later time and see what Angel needed. The purple tinge to his aura was a sure sign something was up.

"Angel, baby, what brings you to Caritas?" Lorne asked with open arms.

"Hey, Lorne." Angel said simply as he scanned the room.

_Something's definitely up._ Lorne thought. He leaned against the bar and took a sip, waiting. He didn't have to wait long.

"I need to know if you've seen anyone new lately." Angel said. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Lorne. "A woman by that description. Sometime in the last week."

Lorne read the description. One eyebrow slowly rose. _Well, that's interesting._ "Funny you should ask," Lorne looked behind him for emphasis, "I've been wondering what her name was."

Angel and the other two looked around him. Angel shifted the other way to look down the bar for a better look at her face. As he did so, Lorne noticed he took a good whiff of air. _Scenting, huh? She must not be human._ "She who you're looking for, big guy?"

Cordelia decided to give her opinion. "If that's not her, then I don't know who could look more like her."

"Its her." Angel answered.

"So, what now?" Gunn asked. He looked about ready to pounce.

Angel looked at Lorne. "What can you tell me about her?"

Lorne took a second to swirl his drink before looking Angel in the eye. "The question is, what can _you_ tell me about her?"

Angel got the point. He glanced in the woman's direction before speaking quietly. "Two werewolves came in two days ago, Tarnasuss and Deavonn, looking for her. They said she kills humans and they've been after her for a while. And… " Angel looked to the side, "and that she might be mentally ill." He looked back at Lorne. He raised his eyebrows a little, as if saying _Was that enough?_

Lorne chuckled a little as he swirled his drink again. "Well, I can tell you one thing, Angel: she is _not_ mentally ill. Another thing I can tell you, " Lorne became very serious, "is that she does not have the aura of someone who kills on a whim. It seems like she would do it if necessary, but I can definitely tell you that she doesn't do it without a good reason, if she's even done it at all."

"The werewolves looking for her said she's killed several of their men." Angel said.

"Well, Angel-cakes, maybe that's because they're not just _looking_ for her." Lorne gave Angel a look that implied his meaning quite well. Angel narrowed his eyes. Lorne continued. "She's been coming to Caritas for the last week, and every time she comes in she's so anxious I'm surprised she can even move. Long story short, I think they're chasing her and have been for quite a while. I don't think she's the one you should be looking at, Angel."

At that, Angel's aura changed. A brilliant navy blue_. Well, it looks like he was on the right road, he just needed to know which direction to go in._ Lorne thought. "Let me know if you need anything, alright Angel-cakes." Lorne said with a wink.

He took a sip of his margarita as he watched Angle and the others walk up the stairs. When their auras disappeared he turned around to stair at the woman again. _No, she's not just a woman anymore, her name is Lilith._ Lorne reminded himself. She didn't appear to have noticed that Angel and the gang had even been there.

Lorne started kneading the inside of he cheek with his teeth as he thought about what he had just learned. It made a whole lot more sense now. If she really was running for her life, and had been for possibly years, she would almost always carry that anxiety with her; and that was why she kept coming to Caritas. She knew it was a sanctuary, that it had magical protection. She was actually safe here. Lorne felt his sympathy for her increase but quelled it quickly. She might not want or need his sympathy… But, she might be able to use his help.

Lorne sat his drink down and went around to the preparatory part of the bar so he could talk to her face to face. When he got to her he leaned his elbows on the bar and clasped his hands. She didn't notice him. She was just staring into her whisky. _I wonder if she can sleep with her eyes open?_ Lorne thought with a smile. "Hello pussycat." he said casually. She blinked and looked up at him. He could see the smile tugging at her lips and feel her amusement. He smiled himself. "How are you tonight?"

She chuckled. "I'm fine, how about yourself?"

While Lorne was caught off guard by her voice he answered quickly. "Just fine. I am a little perplexed, though."

She raised an eyebrow. "By what?"

"Well," Lorne said, "by the fact that of all the people in here, you have yet to sing." He raised his eyebrow at her.

She smiled and looked down at her drink. "I'm not a good singer."

"Are you serious?" Lorne asked, almost genuinely surprised, "With a voice like that? I'm sure you could even put Cher to shame."

She did her little chuckle again. "Its a good talking voice, but I'm pretty sure its not a good singing voice."

He could feel the slight dejection in her aura. _Lets remedy that, shall we._ "Well, mademoiselle, I beg to differ."

She looked him in the eyes, quite undeterred by the fact that they were red. "Oh really?" she said rather playfully. "And who are you to differ when you've never heard me sing?" She smiled a mischievous smile.

Lorne smiled back. "Why, I'm Lorne. And who are you to say that I am not an excellent judge of talent." He stood straight and crossed his arms with a fake look of haughtiness on his face. The smile that was still there kind of broke the look.

For a moment, he could see she was struggling to keep from grinning outright. Then she regained herself and said, "I'm Lilith, the person who's voice you've never heard whilst singing."

He laughed at that. He leaned his elbows back down on the bar. "Well, hun, you'll never know until you try." He raised his eyebrow and tilted his head in a way that said _Come on, give it a try._

Lilith chuckled again. "I have tried, that's my point." While her comment was rather negative her smile didn't go away.

"Well, have you tried in front of an audience?" Lorne asked. She bit the inside of her lip and looked away. _That's an obvious no._ "Come on, if you're bad, no one will care. It is a karaoke bar after all, people are expected to sing poorly. Heck! I've only had about five people in the last twelve months sing any good, and they probably wouldn't have made it on American Idol! Come on, at least one try. It can't hurt."

Lilith leveled her gaze at him. Lorne raised his eyebrow again and stared back. He knew it was only a few seconds, but that was just long enough for him to be nearly entranced by her eyes. He'd never seen such a brilliant green in anyone's eyes before, human or otherwise. Then, she closed her eyes and sighed. He blinked and tilted his head up, waiting for her answer. "Alright, I'll sing." she said. It sounded like she was giving in to something she really didn't want to do, but Lorne could tell she was acting.

Lorne smiled and stood up. "Great! Up and at it, better sooner than later!" he said cheerfully. Lilith raised her eyebrow at him and shook her head with a smile. She turned around on the barstool and stood up. She straitened her leather jacket and turned her head around to look at him. He smiled again. "Go on! I'll be right here waiting!" She shook her head and started walking towards the stage.

Lorne quickly walked around to the front of the bar and leaned against it to wait. While he watched as she walked on stage he couldn't help but wonder what kind of song she would choose. He always found it interesting to see what kind of music people were interested in. He had found himself surprised several times. _I bet she's into rock, or alternative._ Lorne thought. He tilted his head as he considered it.

He saw Lilith lean over the Karaoke machine. He decided it was best not to think about what he would see and just wait for it. So, he did. He watched as she scrolled through the menu. She picked a song fairly quickly. She then walked to the stool, sat down, and closed her eyes.

Lorne took a deep breath as the music to "Bring Me to Life" started playing. He opened himself up as fully as he could. He didn't want to risk missing anything; not that he ever did. With a deep breath, she started singing. "Hooooooow can you seeeee into my eyes," Lorne was momentarily caught off guard. Lilith really did have a beautiful voice. He blinked as he suddenly started to feel something. Then, he blinked again. _That's… not right._

Lorne felt… odd. There was a sensation that was unfamiliar to him. It seemed to originate from where he could feel auras and see futures but, it was strange. It felt thick and muddled. He flinched as he felt it start moving, rippling, like water. He became aware of the fact that his breath had quickened. He closed his eyes and shivered as he felt a strange pressure in his temples. Lorne suddenly uncrossed his arms and gripped the edges of the bar behind him. He started breathing harder and felt the sensation build. He felt the sensation in his temples, he could feel it spreading through his chest, almost like it was a real thing. He started hearing sounds in his head, seeing flashes across his closed eyes. The sensation continued to build as did the sounds and images that he couldn't interpret. Lorne realized he was shaking and suddenly felt his heart pounding and heard the blood thundering in his ears. The sensation started to become more than he could bare. He suddenly had trouble breathing, like the sensation was crushing his lungs. He felt like his head was going to explode, the sounds and flashes had become overwhelming. Suddenly, Lorne gasped as the sensation popped like a bubble and his head flew back-

"_PEACEKEEPER!"-violence-running-wrongstory-toolate-protect-bluelight-greeneyes-green-energy-aura-energetic - a kiss - her lips were so soft and warm, he wanted more, he wanted, he yearned, he lusted, he wanted everything, he wanted it all!_

Lorne came back to himself. He was leaning back against the counter, breathing hard. He was shaking hard, his heart was still pounding. He looked to the stage quickly, slight panic flickering inside him.

Lilith was still singing. She was only about halfway through the song.

_I…_ A violent shudder went through him. _I… I have to…_ He had to get out of there; he had to get away.

Lorne pushed himself off the counter and half ran, half stumbled to his room. At that point, he really didn't care if anyone noticed. In fact, he didn't care about anything else but getting out of the bar.

He got through the door and practically slammed it shut. He locked every lock faster than he ever thought he could and practically collapsed against the door. Even with the door supporting him his legs felt week, and he was still shaking. Lorne pushed himself off and was barely able to walk the distance to his bed. He fell forward onto it and just laid there. He felt another shudder run through him. He scrunched his face up as if he was in pain, and he gripped the blanket on his bed until his knuckles turned pale mint green.

He knew now. He knew why this time had been so different, why the sensation that had been caused had been so unfamiliar. It had never happened before. Never before had Lorne seen his _own_ future.

XXX

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**Again, Angel belongs to Joss Whedon. Tell me what you think! All reviews welcome! ^.^**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Angel and the crew had decided to wait until the next day before they tried to set up their trap. That was probably the best way to go about it. While Angel wasn't really the best in the daylight, they were sure the Werewolves wouldn't be either.

"Alright. Are we ready?" Angel looked up at the others as they all took their relative positions in the office. From the various looks of assertion he was sure of the answer. He nodded and dialed the number. He didn't have to wait long.

"Yes?" came the voice of Tarnassus.

"We've got her." Angel said.

"Really?" Tarnassus asked. He sounded mildly surprised.

"Yes. We've got her contained in one of the rooms."

"Ah. And how did she react as you captured her?" Tarnassus asked.

Luckily they had anticipated that question. "She fought back violently but she was reckless and a little disoriented. Are you gonna come get her or not?" Angel looked at the others as he pretended to be impatient. They seemed to think he was flawless.

"Mmm. Well that depends…"

Angel's eyebrows went up slightly and he looked at the others. They mimicked his look of surprise. At the continued silence Angel finally spoke. "On what?"

"Tell me, Vampire, did you know that deception can be detected in a voice even when carried over electronic devices?"

Angel froze. "You think I'm lying?" The others all let out some sound or other of surprise.

"No, Angel, I don't think you're lying. I know you are."

Somehow, Angel got the impression that the werewolf was smiling. And not in a good way.

"It was a nice try though." Tarnassus turned to Deavonn, his cynical smile still in place. "But I don't hold it against you. Even without performing the function we hired you for, we still got what we needed and I thank you at least for that. You have a good day, wont you."

Tarnassus closed his phone with a click and looked back at Deavonn. "This saved us a good deal of wasted time."

Deavonn smiled as well. "Certainly. I knew there was a good reason we couldn't find her."

"Yes." Tarnassus looked out across the city from the roof of the building they were on. "The supernatural protection of that place is very strong. Too bad it isn't quite what they need."

"Shall we wait until nightfall?" Deavonn asked.

Tarnassus cocked his head. "Well. She likely wont be there until then. And seeing that the place doesn't open until 6 o'clock, it probably would be best to wait."

Deavonn nodded and looked out at the view as well. Then, he smiled. "She's let her guard down hasn't she?"

"I'm sure she has. She's never had the luck to run across a place like that. This will be the last time we have to try." Tarnassus smiled again as he took note of the cars going by on the many streets.

Deavonn let out a laugh of sorts. "I'll go inform the others." He didn't wait for any affirmation as he took off across the rooftops.

Tarnassus stood and watched. His eyes narrowed as he observed the sights of the city. "You will be ours, Lilith."

XoXoX

Angel hung the phone up and looked at the others. "We're made."

There were various sounds of disappointment, including a very spirited "Shit!" from Gunn.

"Alright, plan B." Wesley started. "What is plan B exactly?"

They all looked at him. Angel thought it was obvious but if they needed to hear it. "Find her before they do." Everyone nodded. "Alright," Angel looked down at the map, at the section of the city around Caritas, "we split into teams. Gunn and Fred, you check this side, Wesley, Cordelia, you check this side, look for all the demon hotels and stays, maybe even human hotels if you can, she's not going to be far from Caritas, it's the only safe place she knows."

"What are you going to do?" Fred asked as she put her hair up with a pencil.

"I'm gonna go talk to Lorne. See if he can help us in some way. Remember to watch your backs." Angel said, looking up at all of them. "We don't know if they will attack us or when. We don't even know that they may not be alone."

"Got it." Gunn said as he went to grab some weapons. "Silver right?"

"Yep!" Cordelia answered spiritedly. "Can never get enough of that!" She ignored the various looks they gave her.

XoXoX

Lorne sat at his personal bar in his room. He'd already downed two bottles of tequila and three bottles of wine. Of course in a 14 hour period that wasn't _so_ bad. Especially since it really didn't do much to him. But it wasn't his normal habit.

Lorne ran his hand through his hair and leaned his elbow on the counter. He hadn't even looked at the time. He knew it was daylight and nowhere near opening but he figured he should look at some point. He just didn't really care at the moment. He pushed his glass away and folded his arms on the counter and laid his head down in the cradle of them. "I should probably sleep at some point."

He looked wearily at the wall then chanced closing his eyes. For just a few seconds, he thought he might be alright. Then, yet again, brilliant green eyes suddenly showed up to stare back at him. In an unusual show of anger he jumped up and swiped at his glass, throwing it across the bar space to shatter to pieces against the wall.

He stared at the spot where it shattered then looked at the pieces on the floor. "… WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT!" He shouted as he threw his arms up into the air.

Lorne tromped across his room to his bathroom. He turned the cold water on and dowsed his face. It didn't help. He looked up at his reflection in the mirror and listened to the water run as he examined himself.

He looked like… well, like shit. The dark forest green surrounding his eyes was a horrible sign of weariness and sleeplessness, and his dapple marks were dark against his cheekbones, more a sign that the rest of his skin had become very pale. He huffed at his own reflection. "Why the hell-"

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK

Lorne turned and walked to his bathroom doorway. The knock came again to his outer door that led to the alleyway. He glared at the door as he realized he couldn't sense who it was. He was so filled with alcohol and muddled in his own mind that his senses were clouded.

As the knock came again, slightly more urgent, he went and turned the water off in the sink then went over to the door. As he stood right at the door he got a small sensation indicating who it might be. He opened the door and sure enough, it was Angel. At the moment, the alley was shrouded in the building's shade so he was quite safe.

An odd look of confusion crossed Angel's face and just as he was about to say something Lorne beat him to the punch.

"What do you want?" It came out much angrier than he had intended, but his foul mood had suddenly become fouler because he was sure he knew why Angel was there.

"Uh…" Angel stalled. "Good afternoon to you too?"

Lorne scoffed and turned from the door, not bothering to slam it like he really wanted to. He knew it wouldn't make much difference.

Angel walked in, still quite confused. He was troubled though. He'd never seen Lorne look so bad, ever. And since he had only seen him the night before, he was a little concerned. "Lorne? Are you okay?"

"Gee Al, do I look okay?" Lorne said with his back to him as he poured himself a drink… and proceeded to drink it all down without pause.

Angel was speechless. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, let me rephrase that. What happened?"

Lorne poured another drink and sat down. "I read her future, that's what happened." He took a generous swig.

Slight panic immediately flared in Angel. He walked over and tried to face Lorne. "What did you see Lorne. She's in danger, we know that much, but we still have to find her. What did you see?"

"Nothing about her!" Lorne said almost angrily, not even looking at Angel. He shook his head and got up, taking his drink with him.

Angel stared at him in confusion. "What?" was all he could manage.

Lorne downed his drink again and practically threw it on a set of drawers in front of him. "Listen Angel," he turned and finally looked at him, "I can't help you with this one, okay! I just can't." He gestured his arms in an almost defeated fashion.

Angel stood straight and floundered. "W-why?"

"Because I just can't, alright!" Lorne practically shouted. "I can't, just get used to it because I can't!" He walked back to the bar and made to grab a bottle.

Angel was there as fast as he was and held the bottle down. Lorne looked at him with a glare that was almost frightening. If he was gonna play that game, so was Angel. He glared back and tried to put as much urgency and seriousness into what he was asking. "What did you see Lorne?"

There was only a split second of silence before Lorne practically exploded. "Fine, Angel! You really wanna know? _My_ future, okay! I didn't just see her future, I saw MINE!" Lorne backed off like he wasn't sure what to do and then went to punch the wall next to his bathroom door. Unfortunately, his aim was off and he hit the doorframe instead. "AH! SHIT!" He cradled his hand close to his abdomen and then glared at Angel.

Who was stunned. He shook his head slightly like he had misheard and looked at Lorne like he was crazy. "_Your_ future?"

"Jeez, Angel! Are you that thick?" Lorne stormed into his bathroom and turned on the water.

Angel stood there in near shock for a minute then followed. He stood and watched Lorne run cold water over his hand. He wasn't entirely sure what to say, or how to ask his question, but he had to at this point. "Well… I mean… was it _bad_ or something?..." He looked at Lorne and prepared for another uncharacteristic outburst.

Lorne just huffed. "No, Angel, it wasn't… bad…" He turned the water off and grabbed a towel.

As Lorne wrapped the towel around his hand, Angel found himself even more confused. "Well, then, what's wrong?"

Lorne suddenly looked like he wanted to hit something again and then hung his head and leaned against the counter. "Just!... I just need to be alone… alright. Just- can you just go… please." Lorne didn't look at him.

Angel looked at Lorne. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Lorne looked tired, almost like he'd been through a fight. He didn't understand what had gotten under Lorne's skin so bad. Of course, if Lorne would give him a proper answer it might help.

"Alright." Angel wasn't sure leaving Lorne alone was the best thing to do, but he couldn't really force Lorne to be… social either. "Alright. Call me… If you need anything." He said awkwardly. He couldn't really think of what else was to be said.

Lorne just nodded but did nothing else.

Angel nodded as well. "Kay." He backed out of the bathroom and proceeded to the door. He shut it behind him and made his way back to the sewer exit he had gone through.

Lorne stood there for a second, leaning against the counter. He looked up into his reflection's eyes that looked so horribly tired. "Why?" He stared at himself for a while, wondering randomly in the back of his mind why he was asking his reflection for an answer that he knew he would never know.

He looked down at his hand then walked out of the bathroom. He briefly thought about grabbing the bottle he had reached for earlier but the thought left his mind. He walked over to his smaller dresser he had thrown his glass on and opened the smaller middle drawer. He picked up the extra strength sleeping pills and barely hesitated to plop two out into his hand.

He had never thought he would need them again. The only reason he had them was because he had had an issue a few years back with a group of teenagers rooming in the warehouse next to his building. The amount of noise they had been able to make was horrendous.

He quickly swallowed the pills and walked over to his bed. He crawled onto his bed and practically threw himself down onto it, not even bothering to take of his clothes that he was still wearing from the night before. He stared up at the ceiling.

"Why is this even bothering me?" he suddenly asked himself. He really had no idea. He had seen so many futures over his few years here, so many goods, bads, blands, unexpecteds, horribles, and extraordinarys… But he had never seen his own. Even with that, why did it matter? Why was he so… angry at seeing his own? Not even all of it! It was only a weeks' worth into his future, maybe less, but even so, why was it upsetting? And, in the end, it seemed to be a good thing. The ending that he saw to the upcoming conflict, it seemed to be a good one.

Lorne lifted one of his arms and rested it above his head. He readjusted to make himself a little more comfortable. He had to at least make sure he didn't get a backache from sleeping the wrong way. That wouldn't help anything.

As he felt the sleeping pills start to take hold and his mind start to finally relax because of the same effects, he made sure to keep his eyes open. He wanted to keep himself from seeing those green eyes staring at him. He wasn't sure why he hated it, but he did.

In the end, he was unable to keep his eyes open. The green eyes indeed flared up behind his closed lids. However, the effects of the sleeping pills kept him from actually caring. In the few minutes remaining until blissful sleep, he stared back into those eyes, examining the phantom memory of those green depths… those beautiful green pools that he could hardly believe were only eyes.

XxXxX

* * *

**Angel is owned by the talented Joss Wheadon (if I spelled that right) Not me, I only own the story! And I suck at updating! XD**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Angel turned several corners and continued down several junctions of the sewers before he finally remembered to think. He shook his head as he made sure to take the right turns that would lead him towards where he needed to be. He was pretty sure seeing Lorne like that had been the most confusing thing in his life. It was just so… off. He really didn't have any idea what to do about it other than what he had done. What exactly could he do?

He shook his head again then suddenly realized he should probably see if the others had made progress. He flipped his phone open and dialed Cordelia's number.

"Yeah?"

"Cordelia, how's it coming?" he asked as he turned another corner of the sewer.

"Nothing so far, what did Lorne say?"

"Lorne's not going to be able to help us."

"What! Why?"

"I'm not sure. He…" Angel paused. He still wasn't sure what was up with what Lorne saw. He wasn't sure how to explain it or even if he could. Or should for that matter. "He just can't. Don't ask, I don't even understand, but we're just gonna have to figure it out on our own."

"O-okay. Um, we've checked a few demon hotels, just little one's but we haven't even come up with a matching description."

"Okay. Keep looking, I'm gonna check in on Fred and Gunn."

"And then what?"

"And then I'm going to see if I can find our clients."

"Sounds like a plan." Cordelia said, a slight tone to her voice.

"Right, be careful." Angel reiterated.

"Aren't we always." Cordelia said with a smile in her voice.

Angel paused.

"Oh, please!" With that she hung up.

Angel let just a slight smile break the surface. He looked around and only then realized he had stopped walking. Lorne's behavior crept back into his mind. He shook it off and opened his phone again to call Fred.

XoXoX

They checked everywhere. Gunn and Fred had checked the whole east side and Cordelia and Wesley the whole west side. They combed every street, searched every building, looked around every corner, talked to every person, and rustled through every bush. Nothing. They just could not find a single trace of the werewolf Lilith.

As for Angel, he couldn't locate even a clue as to where the werewolves would be. He hadn't found hair nor hide of the beings. He hadn't even gotten lucky with a physical description either. Not a thing.

It was almost as if the creatures didn't exist.

"I don't get it!" Gunn said as he leaned against his car. "We can't dig up nothin on these wolves? Really? This just doesn't make no sense."

"I know." Angel said, hands on his hips and eyes at the ground. The empty warehouse they were in seemed the perfect place to have a quick meeting. With night creeping up on them, they were sure to hear someone sneaking up on them long before that person could do anything about it. "It doesn't strike me that she would be living on the streets. When we saw her in Caritas she looked too clean for that."

"And Tarnassus and Deavonn looked far to clean to do the same." Wesley put in. "If anything they looked too arrogant to consider such a thing." He crossed his arms and leaned on Angel's car.

"You got a point there." Cordelia said making a face. "If ever there were pretty boys, they would be them."

"They're pretty boys?" Fred asked in confusion.

"Well, yeah!" Cordelia said, looking like she couldn't believe Fred's naiveté. "Didn't you see how spotless their clothes were and how clean and straight and perfect their hair was. Even their eyebrows looked perfect. If they weren't werewolves I'd swear they were gay."

"Um, can we move on?" Angel asked, looking at Cordelia with meaning.

Cordelia made an _I'm not stopping anything!_ face and crossed her arms.

"Okay. As much as I think it's not the right move to make, it seems to be our only option right now." Angel looked up at the others. "We're gonna have to check the street hideouts."

"Alright, where to first?" Gunn asked standing up straight from the car.

"Wait, are you kidding me?" Cordelia suddenly put in. "It's getting dark out? Before too long, we're gonna run into characters that we really don't need or want to deal with, and its just gonna slow us down."

Angel blinked rapidly in one of his few shows of annoyed confusion. "Cordelia, what else would you suggest we do?" He looked at her almost accusingly.

Cordelia made a _Don't give me that look._ face. "One word. Caritas."

"Yeah, why didn't we think of that in the first place?" Gunn said. "She'll be there for sure, she's been going there for the last week right?"

"Actually, yes that sounds like the best plan." Wesley added. "At this point it seems like a sure thing."

"Not for long."

Everyone whipped around and looked into the rafters. Crouched on the support beams were two men in similar clothes to Tarnassus and Deavonn. Their overcoats were shorter though and their hair appeared to be shorter as well, one with shoulder length blond hair and the other with slightly longer light brown hair tied back.

"Your favorite little hang out isn't going to be… habitable for very much longer." said the blond one with a sly grin.

"And there's nothing you can do about it." said the other one.

"Oh, really?" Gunn shouted, grabbing out his crossbow with silver-tipped arrows. "What makes you think that?" The rest of the team started arming themselves as well, anticipating the answer to the question.

The blond one stood up on the beam and laughed. "The fact that we aren't going to let you." With that he and the other man lunged themselves off the beam and towards the team with amazing speed.

The girls barely had time to duck as the werewolves rushed over their heads and immediately started in on Angel and the others. The blond one threw about three very quick swipes at Angel (which he ducked) before sending a very powerful kick at him throwing him at least 50 feet from the group. Gunn who had been trying to distract the other werewolf from taking Wesley's head off, saw Angel fly, turned, and shot his crossbow at the blond one. The arrow caught him right at his shoulder above his collarbone.

He yelled in agony and tore the arrow out. Just as he was about to throw it from him he did a double take on the tip. He smiled and laughed. "Silver! Really? HA!" He threw the arrow to his side. "You idiots really know nothing." He then lunged at Gunn.

Somehow, as the werewolf had gone on his seconds long tirade, Cordelia had been able to pull an ax from Angel's car and toss it to Fred who then swung it at just the right moment as the werewolf was lunging towards Gunn that it caught him right in the throat. He immediately lost his balance and coordination and slammed right into Gunn's car. He fell to the ground, already dead.

Wesley was putting up an unusually good fight, but right as his weapon had been torn from him and the rest of the team a mere split second from realizing it, a large knife flew out of nowhere and slammed into the werewolf's chest. He fell backwards, nearly landing on his friend's body. He sputtered and choked as he tried to look at the knife protruding from him.

"What was that about you not letting us do anything about Caritas." Angel asked as he strode up to the werewolf.

The being looked up at him with blood gushing from his mouth and nose. "Doesn't matter!" he sputtered. "Too late…" He reached for the knife and gripped the handle but apparently didn't have enough left to pull it out.

"Yeah." Wesley handed Angel the axe that the werewolf had ripped from his grasp, "It is too late." With one swift move he beheaded the being.

"Well!" Cordelia suddenly said. "That was… fast."

The whole thing had lasted less than a minute.

"We got a problem." Gunn suddenly said. He bent down and tore the axe from the blond werewolf's throat. "These guys apparently don't have a problem with silver."

"That's not gonna be our only problem if we don't get to Caritas right now." Angel said hurriedly. He went to the driver's side of his car and jumped in. The others followed suit.

If those werewolves were right then they had no time to waist. Even if they couldn't commit violence inside of Caritas, the comments the blond one made certainly made it clear they were gonna do violence outside of it.

XoXoX

Lorne looked in the mirror and plucked at his shirt collar a bit. He had to admit, he at least _looked_ better.

The sleeping pills had kept him down for four good hours, which was rather normal. They were extra strength but only by human standards. Those four hours of dreamless sleep had done him quite a lot of good. As far as his weariness went anyway. After that he had taken a longer than average shower and had taken a ridiculously long time picking out his wardrobe for the night.

He'd only managed to keep his mind blank for the duration of the shower. After that he couldn't help the thoughts and memories creeping up during wardrobe selections. Luckily he was still able to make a good choice.

He did another look-over of the canary yellow suit and fiery-orange silk dress shirt underneath. His gaze drifted to his face. His color had become a healthier green and the abnormal darkness under his eyes had gone to be replaced with the normal darkness that resided there. He sighed heavily. The healthy color certainly didn't change the dejected mood written all over his face.

He walked over to his bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey; half as much as he really wanted, which he was sure was a start. He drank it slowly. Hopefully, he could pace himself, and if he managed to, he might not drink as much as the night and day before. For one, if he was gonna get out into the bar at all, he certainly needed to have his senses at least partially working so he could do what he did. Second, even though it took 20 times the normal amount of human alcohol to get him drunk (if not more) it still took a toll and left him feeling a little like shit.

Lorne put the glass down and glanced randomly to the side… and noticed his glass from earlier still broken on the floor. He stared at if for a few seconds. "Screw it! It's staying there!" He turned on his heal and walked to the door.

He took a deep breath, unlocked the locks, paused for just a second, then strode out.

At the very least, the bar itself hadn't been suffering without his presence. The music was going, the chatter was cheerful, and everyone present seemed to be having a good time. That alone put an actual smile on his face. However small it might have been.

He strode up to the bar, going uncharacteristically unnoticed by the patrons, and leaned against it. The overtone's of happiness and relaxed ease about the room were already rubbing off on him. "How's it been Rico?" He looked at the bartender out of the corner of his eyes.

"Pretty good really." Rico said with a smile. "Not much going on. People are really just wanting to unwind." He looked at Lorne and suddenly seemed to noticed he was actually a little off. "Are you doing okay?"

Lorne looked at Rico seriously. "I've been better. How 'bout a Pina Colada to cheer me up."

Rico hesitated for only a second then nodded and started for the ingredients. "Sure thing, Boss."

Yet another real smile came to Lorne's face. Rico might be annoying, but the kid did have a good heart. He took a deep breath and looked to the person singing. A young looking she-vampire. She was rather getting into her song. It was actually a Frank Sinatra song.

Just as Lorne's surprise at that started kicking in, he felt pricks at his senses. Pricks he immediately didn't like. He looked to the door and was unfortunately too late to warn the door man. He was still muddled it seemed, because the prickles were already walking through the door.

The men were clean cut and all were wearing black. They all had much longer hair then average as well. It seemed like a whole heard of them had dropped in. There were at least 12. And every one of them was scanning the room like they could see through the people and tables.

Lorne stood from the counter and straightened his blazer.

"I don't like the looks of this, Boss."

Lorne looked to see Rico eyeing them. He could see and feel the fight or flight already trying to kick in. "Don't worry, they can't do anything." He reassured the kid. Rico didn't even take his eyes away.

Lorne walked up to the tallest one, who happened to be closest. "Can I help you gentlemen?" He said in a businesslike tone.

The tall one looked at him and bored right into his eyes. "Yes actually you can." he said lowly. "I am looking for a woman. I know you know who I mean." The man's voice was smooth and silky… like a venomous snake that was getting ready to bite.

Lorne suddenly disliked him much more than before. "I'm afraid I have no idea who you are talking about and even if I did, the only thing I can do for you is tell you to keep looking." He tried to keep his tone measured but he already knew his eyes gave him away.

"Hmm." The man smiled. "You will tell me what I want to know, Demon." he said in a dangerously low voice. "Or else your place of business won't look very businesslike for much longer."

An unusual spike of anger shot through Lorne's core. He never liked being threatened but somehow this was almost like an insult to his very self. "Good luck with that." he said in a flighty tone, using his eyes only to convey his anger. To just about anyone, that would be warning enough. "Caritas is a sanctuary. No demon or otherwise supernatural violence is allowed to take place here."

The man actually laughed. He then stared at Lorne with his own threat, his stormy grey eyes darkening. "That is all well and good… but my kind, is quite distinctly, _not_ supernatural."

Lorne knew quite well enough that the man and his crony's weren't human. Therefore, feeling quite confident in the protection of his sanctuary, he said the only logical thing to say. "Just try it."

The man smiled evilly. "So be it." He waived his hand.

To say Lorne was shocked was an understatement. Thunderstruck probably didn't cover it either. He could only watch as the men suddenly started committing all kinds of acts of violence. Turning over tables, throwing chairs, attacking patrons, breaking lights and valuable equipment.

It took a few seconds for the surreality to wear off but by that time it was too late for Lorne to do anything. And it seemed that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Lorne grabbed a glass he intended to bash into the man's head in front of him and made to swing… only to feel the supernatural protection weigh against his arm. _SHIT!_ was the only thought that came to mind before he suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist like a vice and twist his arm behind his back. He then felt shooting pain as someone kicked the back of his thighs just above the bend of his knees. He was forced into a kneeling position and the man at his back pulled his arm further in the direction it did not go in. He then felt him take a fistful of his hair and his head was yanked back so hard he suddenly couldn't breathe.

He heard the crashing and banging and other noises of violence stop suddenly. He gasped lightly as his head was moved forward only slightly to allow him to breathe again.

The tall man leaned forward over him and stared into his eyes. Then, he smiled. "You see, Demon. The only person here that can do no harm is _you_. Therefore, it would be good of you to cooperate with us."

Lorne glared with all he had at the man. "I don't know where she is, I haven't seen her today, and even if I had, I probably wouldn't tell you so. You're a little S.O.L. today, Wolfy."

"Hmmmm." The man cocked his head and suddenly ran a finger down Lorne's jawline. "We'll see about that."

Lorne looked as best he could and noticed that the man's nail started to grow into what looked to be quite the razor sharp claw. For some reason the only thought that entered his mind was: _You can't be serious… _

"TARNASSUS!"

The man and all his crony's turned giving Lorne a perfect view of the entrance as well.

"If I remember correctly, its _me_ you're after."

There, standing tall and at-the-ready, was Lilith.

XxXxX

* * *

**I own nothing! Joss Whedon gets that credit! I only own teh story! ;D Also, I'm not sure I spelled Pina Colada right... oh well! CX**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"If I remember correctly, its _me_ you're after."

Tarnassus turned and looked at her. "Well, hello Lilith. How have you been?" He smiled. Her green eyes were glaring with the power of her anima. She was _angry_. "Well I hope?"

"Leave them alone, Tarnassus. They have nothing to do with this." She spoke low, her eyes boring into his.

He had to admit, he rather loved her eyes. Those brilliant emeralds were so filled with power… power she refused to use. He laughed. "They are unimportant you are right." He turned and looked at the demon on his knees before him. "But they also don't need to be alive to remember our business either." He looked back to Lilith. "You disagree?"

Her eyebrows came down and her glare became more threatening. "Leave them." she commanded lowly.

Tarnassus let out a laugh. "I think not." He swung his hand up intending to bring his claws down on the demon's neck.

Lorne knew… he knew he wasn't going to die.

Suddenly, the lights in the bar blew out and blue light emitted in random places. Lorne was suddenly released and fell forward. He looked up and around and realized what the light was.

All the werewolves in the bar had fire surrounding their eyes. Literally! And it was blue! It was blue colored fire. Every one of them, including the one known as Tarnassus was flailing around and grabbing at their eyes trying to dispel the fire.

Lorne stared. "Holy-ngah!" He was suddenly pulled to his feet and was being raced to the door. He heard steps behind him but dimly realized it was his patrons running after them. They were up the stairs in a flash and they hit the alley, the moonlight suddenly blinding.

Lorne shook his head and looked to who had his arm. It was Lilith. She glanced at him and barely gave him time to think. "Come on." she said before breaking into a run, dragging him with her.

He was amazed by how fast she was and tried his best to keep up, but his legs were aching where he had been kicked and he stumbled more than ran. Just before he was going to say something about it, she beet him to it.

"Grab onto me." she said coming to a stop.

Lorne stared at her, surprised. "What?"

"I said grab onto me." she half-growled as she suddenly readjusted her grip on his arm and brought it over her shoulder as if she were going to carry him.

"Wha-why- AAH!" Lorne suddenly did exactly as he was told and practically wrapped himself around her as she took off into MIDAIR! It took his mind a few seconds to realize what was going on as he watched the alley below them get smaller then quickly move away from them. _WE'RE FLYING! SHE'S FLYING! SHE'S FLYING ME AWAY! HOLY SHIT!_ his mind screamed at him.

He did his best to take a deep breath and then looked forward. It was like the shots of helicopter cameras going over cities except they were closer to the rooftops. Probably much closer than a helicopter was ever aloud to get.

He let a breath out and finally let himself be at least a little amazed by what was happening. It was after all… awesome! Lorne suddenly had a thought. _How is a werewolf capable of flying?_ That thought having entered his mind he looked out of the corner of his eye to the werewolf in question.

She was staring resolutely ahead and she seemed quite undeterred by his extra weight. Lorne blinked as he realized his senses were coming back to him, the shock of the situation wearing off to some degree.

Despite the stoic mask on her face he could feel her urgency. She wanted desperately to get him to safety. But there was more than that. There was a deeper emotion. One she was purposely trying to bury. But he could feel it. It was so strong and so widespread he knew she couldn't hold it back for long… It was fury. He had never felt fury so strongly in someone. It was so strong in her it almost seemed like a solid thing. Admittedly it was similar to anger he had felt from Angel before but… it was different, more pronounced.

He took a deep breath and looked forward again. He knew her fury was not directed at him… but he felt sorry for the ones who _would_ suffer it.

They flew for a good while longer. He wasn't really sure how long. He wasn't really sure how far either. He glanced at her randomly to see if there was a change in her facial expression. He actually twitched with surprise (would have been a jump if he were on land). She looked absolutely exhausted, like she might pass out any minute.

"You should probably- mm!"

Her angle changed suddenly and she was going downward. He looked and saw a rooftop approaching them quickly. He fought the sudden sense of vertigo and swung a foot out as they reached the rooftop probably faster than she intended.

They both stumbled and broke apart to gain their own balance. Lorne just about went to his knees but just managed to straighten his legs out. The muscles at the backs of his legs were burning. He was sure he already had horrible black bruises there. He stood straight and tried his best to stretch them out. _Gonna be sore in the morn'n!_ He looked to the sudden anxiety in his senses.

Lilith was bent over leaning her hands on her knees. She seemed to be trying to catch her breath. "Are you alright?" She asked, the first thing she had said since taking flight. She finally looked up at him.

"Yeah." Lorne said, rubbing the back of he left leg. "I'm sure my legs will recover." He suddenly realized that probably sounded rude. He was still suffering from his overdose of alcohol it seemed.

Lilith didn't seem to have noticed. She stood and ran her hands through her bangs and over her head, her ponytail preventing her from running them through the rest of her hair. "I'm so sorry." she suddenly let out, the words nearly a mere whimper.

Lorne was taken aback. "What?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She crouched on the ground and hung her head. She shook her head and clasped her hands behind it. "This is all my fault. You should never have had to go through this."

"No." Lorne stared straight at her as she looked up at him in surprise. "This was not your fault-"

"Yes!" she interrupted. "Yes, yes it is!" She stood and looked at him like he had no idea what he was talking about. "This is my fault, I drew them here, I drew them to your bar, your sanctuary!"

"It is not your fault that they are after you." Lorne reasoned.

"No, but it is my fault that they attacked _you_! I- I" she threw her arms up and circled on her spot, "I let myself, I let my guard down, I stayed in one place too long! I knew they wouldn't be able to sense me in there, I knew they couldn't find me as long as I was there- or at least I thought I knew! I- I just-"

"You wanted to feel safe!" Lorne suddenly half-shouted. Lilith looked at him in surprise. _Now that I have your attention._ "You wanted to feel safe. You wanted to feel protected. There is no fault in that." He held his hand up as she made to say something. "Caritas is a sanctuary. It was made to make people feel safe, it was made so anyone could come and just be there and be safe." He tried to convey his meaning though his eyes, but he wasn't so sure it was working. The sheer pain and utter self-loathing emanating from her was quite the force to fight through.

"I understand that." she said, still looking at him like he had missed the point. "That is why I kept coming. I knew they couldn't sense my presence. But I also knew that if they did find me… " she lowered her head and shook it, "… I knew they wouldn't be stopped. I knew that protection you put on that place wouldn't be enough. … I…"

Fear. Lorne suddenly sensed fear in her heart. Fear… of him.

"… I just hoped they wouldn't find me… I knew deep down that they would… I just hoped they wouldn't." She kept her head down, apparently too afraid to look at him.

He realized why. She was afraid he would be angry at her knowingly putting him and his patrons in danger, knowingly risking the Sanctuary for her own piece of mind, no matter how temporary it was. He searched in himself… and just couldn't find it. He couldn't find an ounce of anger. He was sure he couldn't even make himself be angry with her. Seeing her… her situation. There was no room for anger. She acted out of desperation. Desperation fueled by years of running for her life. All in all, Caritas had served its purpose, even with the destruction and violence. It was a sanctuary, and that's what it had been for her… if only for a week.

He almost hadn't realized he'd started walking. By the time he had he had already closed the gap between them. "Listen Pussycat." In the back of his mind he thought it odd that he would address her so informally. But, he had to do what he had to do, and at the very least it got her to look up. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked deeply into her eyes. "This is not your fault. None of it is. You came to _my_ sanctuary seeking safety. You got it, if only for a short time. There is no fault in that. They came after you and have rampaged my sanctuary. That fault lies with them. NOT you." He practically glared into her eyes for several seconds. "Do you understand?"

She stared back into his eyes for quite some time. Her emotions were suddenly unreadable. Lorne squeezed her shoulder just slightly and almost desperately wanted her to understand, to believe what was utterly the truth. Then, almost like a firefly on a sunny day, it was there… a flicker of relief.

Just as Lorne was about to smile he felt something catch at his senses.

He and Lilith looked at the same time. Like an ominous swarm on the wind black dots appeared against the dark sky.

"Get behind me." Lilith said with force. She practically shoved him behind her as if he were a child.

She glared as Tarnassus and his entourage landed on the rooftop with them. He glared at her with much more venom than he would normally give her. The raw red skin around his eyes probably had something to do with it.

"That was a neat trick, Lilith, but I'll be damned if you do it again." he said spitefully.

"You are already damned, Tarnassus." Lilith said lowly.

Tarnassus scoffed. "Perhaps, but with your power I don't think anyone will care."

Lilith let out a low growl and glared at him with sudden anger.

"Oh, what? Did I strike a nerve?" Tarnassus said with an evil grin. He stood straight and took a step towards them.

"You will come no closer or you will see my power." Lilith leveled her gaze at him as she felt her anima stir.

"In case you hadn't noticed, my dear, that is what I want." he retorted rather smoothly, his suave returning to him now that she was seemingly in his grasp.

Lilith stared at him. Her anima was starting to burn. It was taking her back to only a few minutes before. To the demon behind her, to the place they had defaced. "How can you live with yourself?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Tarnassus smiled his insufferably smooth smile and took another step towards her. "I'm only trying to get what I want? There is nothing wrong with that."

"And killing innocents is acceptable to getting what you want? There is nothing wrong with that?" She could feel her anima starting to surge through her veins.

"The creature behind you is no innocent, I can assure you of that." A low growl of near-disgust came from his throat.

Lilith's aura suddenly became visible. It blazed to life like a fire being lit. It shined a beautiful brilliant blue. "No. What he is makes it even worse what you have done."

Lorne stumbled back, subconsciously reaching out for something to support himself with. It was overwhelming… what was coming from her. Her anger for one, her utter fury, but there was something else… something he couldn't put a name to. Something… amazing.

Tarnassus practically grinned with excitement. He had never seen Lilith so enraged. He had never seen her anima so sublimely active within her. It was absolutely beautiful… And he couldn't wait to have it for himself.

However, the cause of it's emergence eluded him. His curiosity was rather getting the better of him. "What exactly do you think he is that you think I have done something so wrong?"

Her eyes suddenly became ablaze with her energy, the raw cyan blue of her power emanating through them. "How dare you." she growled lowly. "How dare you!"

Tarnassus was about respond when she suddenly answered everything in full.

"How dare you attack a PEACEKEEPER!"

Then, all hell broke loose.

The sting of static took to the air for only a split second, the only warning of the electricity that took it's place immediately following. It emanated from her form like bolts of lightning going every which way; the intensity of her fury not even allowing for it to be directed. It flowed like the energy in an electricity ball, only far more deadly.

Two of Tarnassus' men were down before he could blink, the others started dodging as best they could, some jumping off the roof, some attempting to fly away. He watched as two more were struck in midair. They both fell limp out of the air already dead. He turned to glare at Lilith and only just managed to reflexively jump away from a strike that would have ended him.

He jumped into the air and hovered for only a second examining her as best he could. He glared as he realized she was far too unstable for him to do anything. Her anima was raging inside her so harshly it was a surprise she hadn't taken off into a rampage.

"Retreat, fall back, now!" Tarnassus yelled out as loudly as his voice would carry. He flew away from the scene not bothering to see if any of the men were following.

It was possibly a loss, but only of time. An evil grin spread across his face as he realized this little episode was going to work in his favor.

She was burning an enormous amount of energy, even by her standards. This would weaken her even more. He knew already she was week from not eating, not having time to stop for a suitable meal. She was sustaining herself with the very energy she was burning. Soon enough, she would be too week to fight back. Then… her power would be his.

XoXoX

Angel raced down the road in the direction they had seen the werewolves go in. They had been only seconds behind them. They still had no idea how they had been able to commit violence inside the bar. It just shouldn't have been possible. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to matter.

They had had only a few moments to ask a patron what had happened when one pointed and they had seen the last of the werewolves trailing behind. They still hadn't been able to figure out how the werewolf seemed to be flying either, but at the moment that wasn't important.

"How long before we lose the trail?" Wesley suddenly asked. "I mean, we saw them go in this direction, but that's it, we have no other way of tracking them?"

Cordelia took that opportunity to answer. "I don't know, Wesley, maybe we just need to keep our eyes open."

"Well that won't do us any good if-"

"NO! I mean look!" Cordelia pointed ahead of them and upwards.

Angel and Wesley looked to see electricity shooting from a rooftop quite a ways off. It looked like a super-condensed lightening storm.

"What the bloody hell is that!" Wesley asked.

"I don't know, but it's probably where we need to be." Angel said as he stepped on the gas.

XoXoX

Lorne lowered his hands just slightly and tried to get a good look at what was going on. There wasn't much to see except that the other werewolves that were still standing were running for their lives. It wasn't long before there were none left to be seen.

He flinched as more static popped next to his face. Even with the harsh, almost painful static he was surprised at how safe he was standing behind Lilith. But from the protectiveness he could sense he figured that was the only reason he was alive.

There was only one problem: Whatever else was raging inside of her was slowly starting to overpower it.

He could feel her fury, her frustration, her fear, her anxiety, all of it, building and unbridling inside of her. It was quickly starting to become less cohesive and more destructive. That was probably why her outburst was still going even though she had driven away their attackers.

The years of buildup of emotional duress coupled with whatever the other feeling was, the other part of her aura and her energy that he couldn't name, was causing her to have an almost literal nuclear meltdown.

As another pop of static caught him painfully in the cheekbone, Lorne knew he had to do something. He had to calm her down, stop her somehow, or she might just kill him and herself.

He lowered his hands and looked at the back of her head and neck. He had to squint because of the brightness of her energy. He couldn't really think, and even if he could he wasn't sure he'd know what to do. He took a deep breath, almost not being able to because of the electricity robbing the air. He did the only thing that seemed right. He reached out to touch her.

The minute his hand entered her aura he was almost overwhelmed. How he didn't pass out then and there he wasn't sure. Her essence flooded him and almost like it was drawing him to her he stepped forward and pushed his other hand into her aura as well. It felt like a raging river flooding his body, a pulse that wasn't his pounding in his ears. He could feel everything she was feeling right in that moment. And it was… so sad.

He could feel her fear as if it was his, her anger as if it was his, her desperation as if it was his, her hopelessness as if it was his, her emptiness as if it was his, he could feel it all. And he felt so sorry, so sorry that she had been going through it for so long- years now, he knew.

Almost instinctively his mind reacted. He reached out into the sheer mass that was her essence trying to cast a calming note into the storm of who she was. _Please… its alright… you are safe now… they are gone…_ he whispered into her aura. _It is going to be alright… you just need to calm down… bring yourself in, Lilith… It will be alright._

For just a second, he thought he was having no effect. But then, he felt it. Her aura quite suddenly started burning smoothly, like water flowing instead of fire raging. The electricity emanating from her started to become less aggravated, the bands becoming slimmer and more benign. Considering his eyes were closed, he felt instead of saw the bands start to dance and curl as they started to rescind and become less frequent. The electricity finally died off altogether and all that was left was her aura still burning bright.

As it too started to fade, Lorne felt his mental connection start to fade with it. Eventually, Lilith's aura was merely glowing faintly like a star, finally blowing out like a candle in the breeze. He was no longer connected to her.

He opened his eyes suddenly as he realized he had his hands on her back and his forehead pressed to the back of her head. He slowly lifted his head and looked at the back of hers as if she might be looking back. She was breathing shallowly and her shoulders were stiff.

He took a breath. "… Li-"

"LORNE!"

He looked up with a start and saw Angel and the gang piling up from the rooftop door. "Lorne! What happened?" Angel shouted as he and the others ran to them.

"Well, aren't you late to the party!" Lorne shouted back at them, suddenly more than a little annoyed. If they were gonna show up at all, couldn't they have shown up when they were needed?

Before he could say anything else, he felt Lilith's shoulders suddenly go limp under his hands. He looked down just in time to see her start to fall. "DAH!" He grabbed her around the waist and nearly went down with her. Luckily, Angel was fast enough to catch them both. They laid her down gently.

Lorne examined her face. She looked like shit. She was practically white and her skin was dark under her eyes. The only expression that could be made out was utter exhaustion.

"Lorne!" He looked up to see Angel looking at him with concern. "What happened?"

Lorne sighed, annoyance flaring up yet again. "I'll tell you when we get back to the hotel, okay bub."

XxXxX

* * *

**I own nothing but the story and OCs! Everything Angel is Joss Whedon's! Let me know what you think so far! I'd _really_ like to know! ;D**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Lorne rubbed his temples as he sat in the chair across the room.

They had gotten to the hotel fairly quickly without any sign of the other werewolves. They had set Lilith up in one of the rooms. She was still out cold. Fred was occasionally wiping her face with wet rags because she was clammy, and she was still pale and breathing rather shallowly. They were a little more than concerned.

The door suddenly swung open and Cordelia walked in. "The good news is her clothes weren't really dirty, but the bad news is you could tell she was wearing them for quite some time." She plopped Lilith's newly washed shirt and jeans on the dresser. "At least she fit well into my old PJs."

Wesley suddenly popped in carrying a tray with all sorts of _Lets stay up 'til she wakes up_ drinks and munchys. Everyone but Lorne went to grab something.

Angel walked out of his corner of the room and grabbed his cup of blood and the glass of whiskey. He walked over and proffered it to Lorne.

For once in the last 24 hours he wasn't sure he really wanted it, but he grabbed it anyway. "Thanks." He went to continue staring at the ground but looked back up as he caught Angel's expression. Angel tilted his head to the door. Lorne sighed.

He got up and followed Angel out of the room not bothering to look at the others. He couldn't help the glance that darted out to Lilith's pale face though.

Once a few steps down the hall Angel stopped and turned. He had that puppy-dog inquisitive look that he got every once and a while.

Lorne wasn't in the mood for waiting. "Well?"

Angel sort of half-shrugged. "How are you doing?"

Lorne sighed again and leaned on the wall. "I've been better." He went ahead and took a sip of the whiskey.

Angel nodded. He went for a drink then lowered his cup. He looked at Lorne again, then kind of glanced away. "So much for not helping."

Lorne leveled him a glare. "When you have a homicidal werewolf kick you in the legs and bend you backwards you tell me its easy not to get involved."

"Hey, I…" Angel raised his hands slightly in a placating motion, "I didn't mean anything by it, I was just saying-"

"Yeah, well don't say it." Lorne cut him off, suddenly feeling the urge to drink again and taking a generous swig. "Besides, she's the one who saved my tukkis. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably be dead. Or maimed."

"Yeah, I thought-" Angel started.

"Don't say that either." Lorne leveled another glare, albeit halfhearted. "They shouldn't have been able to do what they did. I'm gonna have to have a talk with the ladies about that."

"Any idea how it happened?" Angel asked, getting more serious now.

Lorne looked at him then shook his head and looked at the wall. "No. All I have to go on is that they said they _weren't_ supernatural. They're werewolves for cryin' out loud!" Lorne pushed himself off the wall and threw his arms up slightly, careful not to spill the whiskey. "How could they _not_ be supernatural!" Lorne huffed and half-fell against the wall.

Angel was silent for a second. He looked from Lorne to the part of the wall he was glaring at. "Isn't it usually _you _telling _me_ not to burn a hole in the wall?" Lorne looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, effectively turning the glare on him. Angel put his hands up. "I, you know, just trying to… " he sighed, "yeah."

Lorne sighed himself and took another drink of the whiskey.

Angel studied Lorne's face for a few seconds. He couldn't help but wonder. "What happened… did you see that… when you read her?"

Lorne looked at him. He then looked back to the wall. "Yeah… I saw that."

Angel nodded. He didn't feel like he would get any more if he asked. He may not be empathic but he could tell Lorne still didn't want to talk about it. He looked back at the green demon. "Why don't you go back home. We can take it from here."

Lorne suddenly laughed and looked at Angel. "No, Al, you can't."

Angel's face marred with confusion. Before he could say anything Lorne continued.

"First of all, Angel-cakes, its probably a lot safer for me to be here with you guys. For all I know, those bloodthirsty wolves could be just waiting for me to get back." Angel had to agree with that. There was no telling if they were gonna continue to go after Lorne or not, but it was better not to risk it. "And second…" Lorne suddenly went quiet and his face became somber… not something that was normal to see on his face. He looked at Angel. Angel could see the seriousness in his eyes. "Listen Angel… She needs saving… and not just from the big bad wolves. That little episode of hers? It was a long time coming, and it was just lucky that someone was in the right place a the right time." Lorne sighed and looked at the wall again. "Because if I hadn't been there… she would have taken out that whole section of city." He looked at Angel again, his seriousness written all over him.

Angel took a deep breath and stood straight. He shook his head slightly and looked at Lorne questioningly. "How is that possible?"

Lorne scoffed. "Gee, does it look like I know everything?" He drained the last of the whiskey.

"You usually do." Angel reminded him.

Lorne shook his head. "She has… well, you saw it, energy of some kind. I don't really know what it is or how she has it or how she uses it. All I know is if I hadn't been there it would have been used, overused maybe better says it." He fiddled with the glass in his hand and tapped it on his leg nervously.

Angel bit the inside of his lip slightly. He had to try. "Lorne… Whatever you know-"

"Angel, I don't know much more than you do." Lorne looked into his eyes meaningfully. "How she has this energy, why they're after her, how the hell they can FLY! I don't know any of that. All I know is…" Lorne looked down and fiddled with the cup again. "All I know is how she feels. How she felt. How long she's felt it." Lorne stared at the ground.

Angel couldn't help himself. "I can see you're trying not to get involved."

Lorne shot him another look and huffed. "Listen Angel, you may be able to do a lot of things, you may be able to save a lot of people, you may be able to stop these werewolves before they chase her to death," Lorne suddenly got a conflicted look on his face, "… but, I'm the only one who can help her… with what she really needs." Lorne stood from the wall and ran his hand through his hair. "As much as… as much as I wish I could just not… I'm the only one." He looked at Angel, the almost desperate longing to be anywhere else permeating the air between them. "I'm the only one who can really help her. I know it. And I can't just ignore it." Lorne shook his head and looked at the wall again in a near defeated manner. "As much as I wish I could."

Angel looked at the same spot of wall Lorne was looking at. He had no doubt that Lorne was right. He usually was. It was just… He _really_ wanted to know what the hell Lorne had seen! There wasn't much that Lorne shied away from when it came to helping someone in need! The only time he had ever known Lorne to not want anything to do with what was brought to his attention was when they had discovered the portals to Pylea. Even when he was cryptic and annoyingly vague, he still helped. It just wasn't like Lorne and he just didn't understand what Lorne could have seen that would make him so unwilling to participate.

He looked at Lorne again. He was standing stock still, one hand gripping his neck the other fiddling with the glass just slightly as he stared at the wall. He looked desperate. Desperate to just disappear and go hide in a hole.

He sighed, the urge to know too much to keep down. "Lorne-"

"Hey guys!" Gunn suddenly called. They turned to see him peeking from the doorway. "She's awake."

Lorne and Angel looked at each other before starting to the room.

When they got in Lorne walked a few feet from the others and stood back. Angel sat his cup of blood on a room table and walked to the bed where Cordelia and Fred were trying to talk to Lilith.

She was moving, trying to set up and she was trying to open her eyes but the light was apparently too bright as she was squinting. "Hey." Angel said gently. She moved her head slightly to the side but didn't say anything, she just kept trying to sit up. "Here, here." Angel moved quickly around Cordelia and to her side. He gently grabbed Lilith around the shoulders and lifted her up and motioned for Cordelia to stack the pillows up. She did so and Angel gently eased her back onto them.

Now propped up, Lilith hung her head and rubbed at her eyes. She coughed slightly then finally looked up, managing to open them. She looked around at all of them, her green eyes slightly bloodshot. Her eyes finally caught Lorne and she suddenly stopped breathing.

Angel looked between them and when Lorne finally looked away he spoke. "Lilith."

Her eyes shot to him. "How do you know my name?" Her voice was still surprisingly strong even though it cracked just slightly.

Angel got to one knee and raised his hand at her slightly in a placating manner. "Its kind of a long story… but the good news is right now you're safe."

"Am I?" She said, obviously not trusting him.

Angel nodded. "Yes. You can ask him." He gestured back at Lorne, ignoring the sudden indignant sound that came from him.

Lilith looked at Lorne again and they locked eyes again for a few seconds. Everyone held their breath. Then, Lilith sighed and leaned back into the pillows. At that moment it was obvious how exhausted she really was.

"Before we get into anything, how long has it been since you've eaten?" Angel asked.

Lilith looked at him and raised her eyebrow. She then looked off to the side. It became apparent that she was thinking about it. That was not a good sign.

Cordelia suddenly burst in. "I think that's a sign you really need some food."

Lilith looked at her and suddenly laughed. "I guess you're right." She suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"What do you want?" Cordelia asked. "We've got all kinds of stuff, we've got sandwiches, soup, we can order something, Chinese?"

A sick expression came over Lilith's face.

Angel narrowed his eyes. "That's not gonna work is it?"

Lilith looked at him like he'd figured out the secret password. She looked away, that uncomfortable look coming over her again. "… No… I need something different. I've gone too long now… regular food isn't going to do much but make me sick."

Angel glanced to his cup. "Can you take blood?"

Her eyes shot to his with a stunned expression. She suddenly spied the cup and seemed to be unable to look away.

"Its okay." Angel said as he got up, grabbed it, and walked back to her. "I'm a vampire. They're used to it." He gestured to the others. "Besides, you need it." he said meaningfully. He stretched it out to her.

She looked from his eyes to the cup then back. She seemed to be warring with what she really did need and what she didn't want to do.

"You _need_ it, Lilith." Angel said meaningfully. "Trust me, I can tell." he said quietly.

A slightly defeated look crossed her face and she swallowed. She took the cup almost regretfully and looked at the blood swirling in it.

Angel got back on his knee. "Drink up." She looked at him. "You'll need every drop."

Lilith sighed. Finally, she raised the cup to her lips.

Angel took the opportunity to look at all the others. They were all watching her with the same level of concern that he was feeling… even Lorne. He was just glad that they were actually used to someone drinking blood as a meal.

Lilith drank the thick substance gratefully. She hadn't wanted to admit to complete strangers that her body was aching with the need for proper sustenance, but it seemed that they had already realized that. She was simply happy that with every carefully measured drink, the ache was fading away. She realized distantly that she was seemingly lost in the sensation while in front of them and probably looked a disturbing sight, but at the same time her baser instincts hardly cared.

She finally drained every last drop and suddenly realized she had sat up and leaned back enough to actually get it all. She opened her eyes and jerked back in slight panic only to whip herself back into the pillows and almost hit her head on the headboard.

"Whoa, whoa, its okay!" Angel said, smiling slightly while reaching a hand out to steady her. "Its okay. I'll get you more a little later."

Lilith avoided his eyes, a slight blush bringing the only color into her face. "Sorry." She glanced to the cup handed it back to him.

Angel sat it on the side-table then motioned his head to get a better look at her face which caught her attention and made her look at him. "Do you feel better?"

Lilith nodded. "Yeah… Thank you."

Angel smiled his slight smile. "You're welcome. Now," he glanced at the others and looked her in the eyes again, "I think its time we tell you how we got involved."

Lilith blinked and a serious look came to her face.

Taking that as his cue, Angel started at the beginning. "Three days ago, two men came into our office. They said they were a reclusive breed of werewolves. They wanted to hire us to find a… " he glanced away for a second, "deranged, mentally-ill werewolf of their own breed who was killing humans." He looked at her meaningfully. "That's how we know your name. I didn't really trust them, but I had nothing to go on, so I focused on trying to find you-"

"Hmm-Hmm!"

Angel looked to see Cordy and the others giving him looks. "Sorry- _we_ focused on trying to find you." He looked back to Lilith. "We finally found you in Caritas, but The Host here," he gestured to Lorne, "confirmed my suspicions. That these men weren't actually after a criminal… they were the criminals. We tried to set a trap this morning to catch them and figure out what was really going on, but they knew what we were doing. It turns out they used us to find you. We tried to find you to protect you… But we were obviously a little too late." Angel looked at Lilith apologetically.

"A _little_ too late?" Lorne scoffed. "Make that a lot." He looked to the others and physically jumped at their glares. "What?" He looked away as some of them shook their heads.

Angel looked back to Lilith. She was looking at the blankets in thought, apparently not having noticed the exchange. She suddenly closed her eyes and a slight pained expression came upon her face. "What's wrong?" Angel asked, panic flickering.

Lilith shook her head. "I can't believe it."

Angel looked to the others and noticed they were confused as well. He looked back at her. "Can't believe what?"

Lilith hung her head. "I can't believe they actually involved civilians."

Angel and the others became very sober. It was time to get to the bottom of this.

"Lilith." She looked up at him. Angel looked into her eyes meaningfully. "I think its time you tell us what's really going on."

Lilith looked at him. Then looked at each of the other strangers in the room. She then looked back at "The Host" as he had called him. As much as she wished she could just break and run, she knew it would do no good. Even if she had been strong enough to book it, they were too involved regardless. She wouldn't be protecting them by leaving them in the dark. They were as good as dead as it sat. She sighed and hung her head.

"I guess I'll just start with explaining what you all have probably noticed." She looked up to the man next to her and glanced at the others. "We are not what you know as werewolves."

There were looks of understanding and confusion among them. "I guess that would explain the flying." the African-American man said.

Lilith let out a laugh. "Yeah." Her seriousness returned instantly. "We are beings that are neither human nor beast. We are both. We are not werewolves… but our race is responsible for their creation." She looked up and noted the shock and surprise that registered in their faces.

"How is that possible?" The Englishman in glasses asked.

Lilith sighed. "As told in our lore, in the ancient times of this world, our kind lived separately from the other races. Then, the Humans discovered us. They feared our power and tried to fight us, eliminate us. In an effort to help them understand, the help them see us for what we were there were some who tried to use their inner energies to form a mental bond with some humans. Unfortunately, this backfired. The energies used altered the human's blood- DNA, and caused them to become what were at that time called Shadow Beasts. Creatures that were similar to us, in that they had a human form and a beast form that, like ours, took the form of a wolf. These Shadow Beasts were notably weaker than us and it was noted that they could not change into their beast form willingly nor could they control it. And, to the relief of all, it was noted that they had no form of malleable energy.

"It is believed that, over time, the energy that caused the mutation in those humans became so infused into their DNA that it saturated every part of them including bodily fluids… like saliva." She looked up and saw that they understood where she was going. "Therefore leading to the bite as the facilitation of transfer of that latent energy. It is believed that time has caused the slow adaptation that has led to what you all know as the different breeds of werewolves."

"Interesting." the Englishman said putting his hand to his chin in thought. "It was always an issue with researchers as to the origin of Lycanthropy. They assumed it was a diseased wolf that bit a human many centuries back and it caused an unprecedented mutation. But, you are saying that your race did this by accident?"

"Yes." Lilith answered. "Only it wasn't centuries ago. It was millennia."

The man looked stunned. As did the others. "Do you, do your people have records of this?" the man asked.

"Yes, actually." Lilith said, more than a little surprised at the direction of questioning. "Ancient records preserved and protected at our Repositories."

"Oh my goodness- wait!" he suddenly said loudly, "Your race? Your people are a functioning society?"

Lilith raised her eyebrows. "Um… yes." Then, she actually laughed. "A lot like yours actually."

The smaller of the women suddenly pitched in. "You mean like with cities and buildings and such?"

Lilith suddenly couldn't get rid of her smile. "Mhm. Technology too, some of it more advanced than yours."

"Are you serious?" the Englishman asked.

"Okay." the man next to her said. "Guys I think we're getting a little off subject." He gave them looks.

They both quieted down, although it looked like they had a hard time doing so.

"Anyway," the one next to her said, looking back at her, "back to… what you are?"

Lilith took a deep breath, her smile fading. "Well… Its not the easiest thing to explain. We are beings that are, essentially, a pure fusion between human and beast. We are neither of the two, yet we are both of those entities." She looked up at them. They looked confused. She took a deep breath and thought about how to explain it simply. _Well… that is the simplest way to explain it._ "Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got. There's no name or title I can give you to make it any easier either. We have a form that looks human and a form that looks like a wolf, and then… we have what we call our true form, the physical representation of what we are, the physical fusion of our anima and our base." She looked up again and they were staring at her like she was insane.

"Uuuuuh, okay, let me try this a different way." She looked at the blanket and thought harder. "Okay." She looked at them and they gave their attention. "'Base' is the word for the form that looks human, the one I'm in now. 'Anima' refers to the form that looks like a wolf, it also is the word used for our spirit, or the inner part of us that is… what we are. What we truly are down to the core. Our anima is almost like a separate entity from us, kind of like the base is. Like, right now, I seem completely human, there is nothing that gives away that I would be anything else, right?" They all nodded. "When you start to see or feel something that is something else, that gives off the feel of something not human, that is my anima." The all nodded very slowly. "You don't get it do you-"

"Wait a minute!" Everyone turned to look at Lorne. He had locked eyes with Lilith and they were staring at each other. "That part of your aura… There was a part of it I couldn't name… a part that I had never felt in anyone before…" The expression on his face was one of utter shock.

Everyone looked at Lilith. She swallowed, never taking her eyes from his. She took a deep breath and finally spoke. "Yes… that was it. That was my anima. The deepest part of myself."

Everyone looked back to Lorne. There was a sudden look in his eyes that was unfamiliar to them. He then narrowed his eyes. "The part coming to the surface now."

Everyone suddenly looked to Lilith with various looks of surprise on their faces. She was staring at Lorne like he had done something frighteningly amazing. She then suddenly gripped at her chest just where her sternum ended and looked down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Everyone looked at Lorne and saw him suddenly look away from her like he had done something he shouldn't have.

"There's been a lot of… activity, that has provoked it." Lilith said, opening her eyes again. She looked back at Lorne. He looked at her, but only fleetingly. "Anyway, uhm…" she shifted her weight and seemed to be struggling to think.

"Okay." She looked back up at all of them with a sudden look of resolve. "The word we use to identify ourselves is Lycanthrope. We call ourselves Lycanthropes because that is the best way to say what we are without getting into the difficult details. Basically, the fusion of human and beast that I'm talking about is what gives us our natural energy, we all have it. It is the basic energy of our race, it is malleable and can be used lethally or helpfully, it is also what we use to fly. However this energy is not the only energy that our kind can possess, most often the supplemental energy that one of our race can possess is elemental energy, as in control over an element: Earth, whether it be vegetation or soil control; Fire; Water; Air- those things and their corresponding subcategories." Lilith suddenly stopped and took a breath. _Holy shit! I feel like I've run a marathon!_ She looked up at them all and noted the various looks of surprise. She had a feeling she finally got some of her point across.

"Okay." the man next to her said. "That helps."

Lilith smiled then suddenly collapsed into her pillows. She heard the others rush to her and felt the man's hand on her shoulder. She was finding it hard to breath. Saying all that in one breath was strangely draining. "I'm okay, I'm okay, that was… just a mouthful."

"It most certainly was." said the Englishman said in amazement. He then seemed to switch gears. "I think its about time we get her more blood."

Lilith popped her head up and looked from him to the man at her side. Before she could say anything-

"Yeah. Gunn, would you?" He looked to the African-American man.

He rolled his eyes and started for the door. "Fine, but you better fill me in." he said as he exited.

The man looked at her again. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.

Lilith nodded. She took another deep breath and sat up. "Well," she started as she readjusted herself, "there is one problem."

"What is it?" the man asked.

She looked at him then the remaining others. "It seems like while you all know my name… I don't know any of yours." She wasn't sure why it took her so long to realize that. Maybe it was just the exhaustion.

"Oh!" the man said in surprise. "I'm sorry, um, I'm Angel. And this is Cordelia," he pointed to the taller woman, who smiled and waived slightly, "and that's Fred, or Winifred," he pointed to the shorter woman who did the same, "that's Wesley," he pointed to the Englishman with glasses, who nodded with a smile, "that was Gunn who walked out the door, and this is Lorne." he finally pointed to The Host of Caritas.

As his eyes met hers they lingered in a stare for a second. Then, he looked away and cleared his throat.

She looked down at the blankets then back at Angel. She smiled. "Thank you." She then looked at the others. "Thank you all. Its… um, very kind of you… too…" she looked at the blankets as she suddenly floundered.

"No, its okay." said Cordelia with a smile. "Its what we do." She then sat down at the end of the bed and tapped Lilith's foot. A meaningful expression came on her face. "We're here to help you now. You don't have to worry."

Lilith looked into her eyes. The sincerity there was… heartbreaking. Lilith looked down to her blankets as her eyes started watering. She then suddenly rubbed at her eyes, almost angry at the outbreak.

"Don't worry." said Angel as he put a hand on her arm in sympathy. "We're not gonna let anything happen to you."

"HA!" Lilith couldn't help it. She covered her mouth though and scrunched over as her tears became overwhelming.

She could feel the question in the air, even though no one was asking it. Why wait? She might as well answer it and get it out of the way. "You can't help me." She suddenly stopped, shocked at how much her voice shook. She needed to continue though. They needed to know. "… You'll only get yourselves killed. None of you will be able to fight them-"

"What makes you say that?" asked Wesley.

She took a violent breath and looked up at them, eyes bloodshot, tears still flowing unhindered. "You are all only human. Well, he's not and he's not," she glanced at Angel and Lorne, "but you are an undead vampire, you only have your body and weapons to fight with, that's not enough." She was pleading with her eyes for the vampire named Angel to understand. "And him," she looked to Lorne, "he may be a demon but its no different for him. And even if it was, he's a Peacekeeper, he doesn't fight."

"Why do you call me that?" Lorne suddenly asked. Everyone looked at him then back to Lilith as they again got locked in a stare-down. "You've called me that twice now."

Lilith took a shaky breath. "You are… you are a Peacekeeper, that's why you made a place like Caritas, isn't it? It's a sanctuary, a place of equality and peace. You are the keeper of the peace that you create there… you are a Peacekeeper." Lilith wasn't sure why she was so adamant about it except that she thought it utterly true. She had seen dozens, even hundreds of individuals enter his bar, some demon, some human, some vampire, some good, some bad, some ambiguous… all kinds of people, all colors and creeds. He accepted them all and allowed them all to come and enjoy the tranquility, it not quiet, of the Sanctuary. There was no judging, no hatred… simply peace.

"You are, by definition a Peacekeeper." Lilith suddenly looked down and became very quiet.

The tears had finally started to slow, but a solemn expression came over her. She remembered the anger she had felt at him having been attacked, his place of peace having been wrecked. "That is why I was so angry." She looked up at him and glanced at the others. They were all waiting. She looked back at him, only to be entranced by those red eyes. Those incredibly knowing, dark, ruby eyes. She blinked and looked down. "… Peacekeepers are considered great and honorable people in our society. It is hard to come by a true one, and the ones we have… they have done great things for so many people. They provide the kind of help and compassion that is so needed by people… whether they need it just for a moment of dejection or a lifetime of sorrow." She looked up into the demon's eyes… his beautiful red eyes. "You are a true Peacekeeper. And he attacked you, outright." She looked back at her blankets. "It was a crime that has no reason, not that there are many that do. To attack a keeper of Peace, is like attacking a Medical Officer for trying to heal someone or a Caregiver for being with their patient. It is horrible."

The others looked around at each other. It was obvious she truly believed in what she was saying, the gravity of her words was quite intense. As those words sunk in, all eyes slowly but surely gravitated to Lorne.

Who was staring quite intensely at Lilith. His expression was unreadable. But then, with a deep breath, his face softened. "Thank you." Lilith looked up, and for the umpteenth time, they locked eyes. "Really. Thank you."

Lilith bit her lip and looked down again. She almost seemed to curl up into herself.

"Um…" All eyes turned to Angel, even Lilith's. "Not to, uh, ruin the moment or anything, but getting back to the helping you part…" Lilith's face became somber again. Angel couldn't help but wonder how she would react. "Well, um, you know… We _did_ kill two of their men…"

For a good few seconds Lilith remained frozen in her somber looking expression. Then-

"Heh!" Her face contorted into comical confusion.

Angel and the others couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah." came Gunn's voice suddenly as he walked through the door. "We took care of it in like sixty seconds." He walked over and handed the blood to Angel. "What'd I miss?"

"She knows our names now!" Fred said with a grin.

"HEH!" Lilith burst out again, louder this time. Her eyebrows were scrunched down and her expression was nothing short of flabbergasted.

Angel actually laughed as he sat the cup on the side-table. "Yeah, we killed two of them, and it took less than a minute."

"Where? When?" Her voice was utter incredulity and was honestly… hilarious!

"When we were looking for you." Fred put in.

"Yes, we weren't having any luck finding you or them." Wesley started. "So we pulled over into a warehouse which, in hindsight was not the best place to stop, when two of them jumped out of the rafters at us. We dispatched them literally that fast."

Lilith stared at him, utter shock and disbelief on her face. She then stared at Cordelia, then Gunn, then Fred, then glanced over to stare at Angel, and finally ended on Lorne.

Lorne put his hands in the air, whiskey glass still in one. "Don't look at me! You know where I was the whole time, I didn't see it happen."

Lilith looked back at Angel. He did his best to keep from snickering.

"You can't be serious." Lilith said, still with nothing but disbelief. She looked at all of them again, each of them smiling or snickering or trying to hide the fact. "Seriously!"

Angel finally laughed a little. "Yeah."

"Wha, how! Wh-which one's were they, do you know?" She was utterly confused.

"Well, we don't know who they were." Wesley answered. "We just know it was a big one with blond hair and a slightly smaller one with brown hair."

"Wha-What!" Lilith looked at him like he'd gone mad. "The BLOND ONE! Are you KIDDING ME! That asshole's given me the most problems! He- seriously! Mmph." Lilith suddenly doubled over and held her stomach.

"Whoa- whoa here." Angel grabbed the blood and took the lid off the cup. "Here." He reached it out to her.

She took it and held it in her lap. She stared into the cup. Her incredulous expression only slightly marred by the apparent pain. "You can't be serious. Seriously, you- they're both dead?" She looked at Angel.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Like D - E - A - D, dead?"

He nodded again, more spiritedly. "Yes!"

She sighed and leaned her head back. "Holy fuck."

Angel couldn't help but laugh. The others chuckled too, even Lorne. "See." Lilith looked at him. "We can help you."

Lilith laughed herself, a more depressed laugh. "No. No way. That was too easy… " She then got a thoughtful look on her face. "That's it."

The others looked among themselves then back at her.

"That's it!" She looked at Angel. "That's the only reason you were able to do it. They thought it would be easy." She shook her head when Angel apparently didn't understand. "They thought it would be _easy_ to kill you all, like stepping on ants. Surprise! You guys apparently know how to fight. They didn't realize that and approached you like you would stand there and let them end you." She looked at the others with meaning, trying to drive her point home. "I have to give you guys your props for killing them and doing it so fast, but now… now you guys are in deep shit!" She suddenly looked at them like they were children who had broken a rule. "They aren't going to let you get away with this. Its not as easy to kill them as that, just as it wasn't as easy to kill you as they thought. The only reason you all are still alive is they didn't think you were worth it to take you seriously. Now," she shook her head, "now, they won't hold back. And you won't be able to do anything about it."

Angel looked at the others, the seriousness of the situation suddenly increasing. He looked at Lilith and tried to imply his own meaning. "We'll see about that."

Lilith sighed and shook her head. She then doubled over again another pained expression crossing her face.

"Drink." Angel said with force, grabbing the cup in her hands and lifting it towards her.

She looked at him, suddenly looked exhausted again. She did as he said. She drank slower this time, trying to make it last. She lowered the cup and took a deep breath. She let the blood settle in her stomach.

"Alright, listen." Angel said, gripping her arm. "We can put up a fight. We've fought bigger and badder things than them. We can help you and we will."

Lilith looked up at him with tired eyes. Her confidence in his words looked to be astoundingly low.

"Now, wait a minute." Gunn butt in. "If I'm not mistaken, we still haven't figured out why they're after her yet."

All eyes turned to Lilith. She took a deep breath and looked away. She suddenly looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. She looked up, then down, then around, and finally hung her head and looked at the blankets. She sighed. "… They're after my power."

"You're power?" Wesley asked.

"Yes." Lilith looked up and shook her head. She then looked down again and fiddled with the cup. "I told you about the supplemental energy my kind can possess. Elemental energy." She looked up to make sure they were following. "There are other elements besides the four bases. Examples are the ability to control Light, Darkness or Shadows, and one of the rarest and most powerful… Electricity."

"And you have that." Lorne suddenly said. They looked at him. "That was it, on the rooftop."

Lilith smiled and looked at the cup again. "Yes. As of right now, there are only two of our kind that possess the element of electricity. Me… and our ruler." She looked up and was not at all surprised to see shock on their faces.

"Ruler?" Wesley said in astonishment.

"Yes. Our king." Lilith confirmed.

"You have a king?" Fred said in amazement. She glanced to the others to abruptly see Angel giving her a serious look. "Uh, right, off subject."

"Yeah." Lilith continued. "But that is not the main reason they are after me." She paused, almost like she didn't want to continue. "… Each of the base elements have a subcategory. Fire especially has quite a lot of subcategories. There is one type of fire… that is very rare… and very powerful. It is simply called Blue Fire."

"In the bar." Lorne butt in again.

Lilith looked up at him. But this time she didn't smile. "Yes. Blue Fire is… one of the rarest if not _the_ rarest of the elements. There is only ever one Lycan born with it in every generation. It's power is… legendary."

Lilith looked to the far wall and got a faraway look in her eyes. "It is called one of the purest fires. It can literally purify anything. It can heal- heal wounds, heal scars. It can comfort as much as it hurts. It can seal away entities and others' energies. It can relieve one's pain and yet cause unbearable pain. I can make it burn at any temperature I want, I could literally wreathe you all in fire, surround you in it and it would simply feel like a warm breeze. At the same time I could make it consume you entirely where not a trace of your being would be left for anyone to know you ever existed."

She finally looked back to the others and saw utter awe in their faces. She sighed. "It is one of the most dynamic elements that exist. It is immensely powerful. They are after it… and they want it for no good purpose. Tarnassus… he wants to use it to his own ends. He has no supplemental power of his own. And his ass thinks he deserves it." Lilith's face contorted into a fierce glare. "He wants it to say he's got something. But more than that, he wants it because he thinks he will then be able to do whatever he wants. Anything, even challenge the king if he wants!" Lilith looked down at the blankets looking like she might start crying.

They all looked at her, not really knowing what to say. Cordelia reached her hand out from where she sat and squeezed Lilith's ankle.

A confused expression came over Gunn's face as he thought about what she had said. "Wait… if this element is so powerful, why don't you just use it on them?"

Lilith looked up, her eyes watery. She then looked back down, an almost ashamed look crossing her face. "When they first started chasing me… five years ago now… I didn't put as much seriousness on the matter as I should have. I just thought, 'Oh, I'll just run all over the countryside and they'll get tired of following me and go away!' I was wrong. I kept running and they kept chasing. It didn't matter where I went, they just kept at it. Before I realized it, the whole situation had deteriorated into something far too much for me to handle. Altercations happened again and again, and I started to realize that it was… real." Lilith's anguish was fully on display now. Tears were running down her face and she was starting to tremble.

"By the time I realized I was fighting for my life it was too late. They had acquired machines and objects that would absorb my power, my Blue Fire, if I tried to use it. And the more energy I used, of my electricity and my base energy, the more advantage it gave to them. This is… " she looked around at herself, the bed, the blood, "this, my collapse, my exhaustion, it was only a matter of time, it should have happened sooner. I could never stay in one place long, maybe three days, that never gave me time to rest, to eat, and every time they would catch up to me they would force me to fight and I would use more of my energy, which wouldn't have mattered except I would then have to run again and slowly but surely its built up and taken its toll! I haven't been able to stop, I haven't been able to sleep properly, eat properly, barely have I managed to get enough water, I've been having to rely on my energy alone for months now to keep my body working!" Lilith was full out sobbing now, crying her eyes out and practically shouting in pain.

"That's why I collapsed, that's why I probably can't even stand right now if I tried, I used what little energy I had left when my anima couldn't stand it any longer and I just lost it, that's the most energy I've used in so long and it was too much… I…" Lilith doubled over and started sobbing uncontrollably, her body quaking with the intensity of her grief.

Angel and the others suddenly came back to themselves. Angel moved quickly and took the cup from her hand too keep it from spilling and went to move back towards her when a hand suddenly pushed him to the side.

Lorne sat on the bed, his back to the others and moved as close as he could get to her. He reached around her shoulders gently. He pulled her up and to him and cradled her close. Lilith continued sobbing, her face contorted in pain. Seeming to realize she was being held she gripped at his clothes and buried her face in his chest. Lorne gripped her firmly but gently and held her tightly to him.

The others watched and listened to her muffled sobs as she cried her heart out in Lorne's arms.

XxXxX

* * *

**Whoo! That took a lot longer than I thought! But I'm happy with the way it came out! What do you all think? :3 Angel belongs to Joss Whedon!**


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